So in the end, Andy Murray did pull on lederhosen to celebrate his victory in the BMW Open in Munich, despite saying beforehand that he would not.
Good for him. But did he did he actually pull them off too, if you know what I mean? Let's face it, leather shorts aren't an easy look to master, which is why you generally only see them in Tom Of Finland calendars or at beer festivals where everyone's too drunk to notice. So how did Murray fare?
As we all know, Twitter is the new court of public opinion and to judge by the social media response he did carry off the lederhosen and with some aplomb. I doubt he'll climb into his lucky leather shorts when it's time for him to crash out of Wimbledon at the semi-final stage, but if he packs them away and never wears them again at least he'll know he didn't make a total fool of himself. As more than one Twitter user noted, he kind of rocked the look. Go Andy!
But what's more intriguing is that he may also have thrown a sartorial pebble into the fashion millpond, a pebble whose ripples may soon be lapping at the feet of those of us who wouldn't really consider ourselves natural lederhosen wearers. If David Beckham can put the sarong on the fashion map, can't Andy Murray do the same for this peculiar Bavarian garment? Yes, he can. Perhaps it's time we men wrested the leather shorts off the thighs of the Germans and tried them on for ourselves. What do we have lose besides our dignity and, potentially, our liberty should we try to board a plane wearing them?
What's that you say? You first? Maybe I will. They might chafe a bit but frankly as long as they come down to the knee and it isn't obligatory to wear them in pastel shades I'm prepared to give any kind of shorts a run-out. Even ones that creak when you walk.
Mind you, what Murray was wearing wasn't technically lederhosen because he didn't also have the braces (or suspenders as the Yanks call them) which are an integral part of the costume. And his were quite long, so they were getting on for bundhosen which are a bit like plus fours.
If you like the sound of this and you're not prepared to wait for your favourite high street store to strike a deal with whichever Chinese factory can produce them most cheaply, you may have to turn to an actual lederhosen supplier. Ernst Licht seems to be the go-to guy and his website even prices the garments in dollars, which isn't that strange as he's based in Pennsylvania. A full rig will set you back around $400 - around £260 - though if you're one of those zany, novelty-tie-and-sock-set types that drift into IT when the kids' party bookings dry up you might enjoy the swimming trunks instead. These look like lederhosen but are actually - you guessed it - swimming trunks. Either way, you'll certainly make a splash - or ein Spritzen, as they say in Munich.
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